


Ozmoregulation

by ApplesAndJam



Category: Monster Prom (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2020-06-27 09:10:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19787776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApplesAndJam/pseuds/ApplesAndJam
Summary: One event changes the course of 4 students' senior year, with Oz at the center of it all. Will he get the chance he desires with his crush?





	1. Discombozbulation

Oz started his Saturday morning the way any good morning should start: with a pounding headache. He struggled to open his eyes, as any light in the room immediately caused a cacophony of pain. Oz blindly grasped at his bedside table searching for his phone so he could browse the internet for an hour before actually getting up. The only thing he found on the table was an empty water bottle. Oz thought this was weird, as he always left his phone charging next to him. Finally opening his eyes, Oz came to a shocking revelation. This was not his room. Oz sat up so fast he actually cracked the headboard behind him. Taking in his surroundings, Oz discovered he was in a dark purple room, with little white dots freckling the walls like stars. Dirty laundry and empty cups littered the floor. This was quite a departure from the muted shades of orange and tidy floor found in Oz’s bedroom. Checking under the sheets, he found he was wearing nothing but the blue boxers he had worn to school yesterday. That left one question. What in the world happened for Oz to be in this situation?

* * *

“C’mon Oz, please?”

Oz slammed his locker shut and turned to look at Vicky’s pleading face. The frankenstein's eyes were as wide as her stitches would allow and her mouth was turned into a small frown. Oz rolled his eyes.

“ _I don’t get it, Vicky,_ ” Oz said into her mind. “ _Why in the world would you want to go to a football game?_ ”

Oz and Vicky had a lot in common. They both enjoyed reading, pizza, and dangerous, but non-lethal, pranks. A shared dislike they had (or a shared dislike Oz _thought_ they had) was major social events organized by their school. They had skipped out on all the games, dances and pep rallies of their last 3 years at Spooky High, usually opting to hang out at Brian’s house and watch movies. The sudden desire to go to one of these chaotic nightmares of social awkwardness confused Oz to no extent. Vicky’s eyes pleaded with Oz’s again. 

“We’ve never been before, and it’s our last year at Spooky High,” she whined. “I just want to experience it once!”

Oz crossed his arms, not buying her explanation.

“ _Have you asked Brian or Amira if they want to go?_ ”

Now Vicky rolled her eyes.

“I did, but they said they had an important project to work on in biology AP.”

Oz was in that class with them, and he knew damn well there was no deadline coming up. The closest thing they had to a project was to harvest 3 human organs to compare with monster ones, and Oz was with them when they did that 2 days ago. 

“Please Oz! Please come with me to the football game tonight,” shouted Vicky. Oz knew he was going to give in, and he had no excuses.

“ _Fine,_ ” groaned the shadow monster.

Vicky gave him a big hug and spun him around. 

“Thank you so much, Oz! I promise we’ll have fun,” squealed Vicky.

_“Just promise you’ll pay for snacks there,_ ” he mumbled.

Vicky put him down and nodded eagerly. Then they headed off to the cafeteria to have lunch with Brian and Amira.

The rest of the day passed without anything of note happening. One rave during 4th period, and two attempts to set the library on fire. The final bell rang and monsters evacuated the school like the fires hadn’t been put out 20 minutes ago. Oz caught the bus home, sitting next to a particularly chatty imp. He looked out the window, trying to ignore the imp telling a story about its grandmother, and thought about the football game he promised to go to. Oz had no interest in football, or any sports his school offered him. He was good at dodgeball when he tried, but he’d much prefer to just sit on the bleachers and watch the smaller monsters literally get destroyed by the force of the dodgeballs. It was a good time to replenish fear.

As he thought back to gym class, he remembered the star athlete that would most assuredly be appearing in tonight’s football game: Scott Howl. The werewolf shared a couple of classes with Oz and was definitely the most popular student in his gym class. Unlike the rest of the football team, which were legally classed as ‘douchebags’, Scott’s most endearing trait was his kind personality. Most of the destruction caused by Scott was due to a misunderstanding, or his canine instincts taking over, or just plain stupidity. Usually, he was nice to even the unpopular kids, which is something that could not be said for all the popular kids at school. While never being victim to it himself, Oz had heard stories of kids who got their entire family name ruined due to blackmail and other students who got limbs ripped off by an arson loving fire prince. Oz had developed a semi-crush on Scott. ‘Semi’ due to the fact that Scott was _way_ out of Oz’s league. Oz was in the rejects of rejects group. He, Brian, Amira, and Vicky rarely interacted with anyone outside of their friend group, and Oz was fairly sure nobody would notice if they disappeared. Brian didn’t talk to anyone, Vicky’s bubbly personality irritated a lot of students, Amira’s aggression scared even the teachers, and Oz was an anxious mess. The isolation only helped to strengthen their friendship together, but it did them no favors when it came to talking to popular people. This was part of the reason why Oz didn’t want to go to football games; all the popular kids were there, surely judging the losers. 

“So my grandmother poured _another_ concoction into the blender and I was like ‘Grandma! What’re you doin-”

“ _Um, driver? This is my stop,_ ” Oz quickly said to the harpy in the front seat. She grunted and opened the door, allowing him to hurry out. His house wasn’t actually for another 2 miles, but Oz was about to throw that imp out of the window.

Rummaging through his closet, Oz searched for something to wear to the game. Eventually, he decided on a yellow hoodie and black jeans, since Vicky warned him autumn games could get cold. Now Oz waited on his front porch, after telling his dad he’d be back at 8.

“ _Alright Oz, just let me know if you’re going to stay out later than that,_ ” he said.

“ _Yes dad,_ ” groaned Oz.

Vicky arrived in her beaten up blue jeep. She was dressed in a gray shirt with a blue vest. Oz climbed into the passenger seat with reluctance. Several phobias began to adjust his hood. Vicky noticed the shadow monster’s anxiety and patted him on the back.

“Hey, it’s gonna be alright. We only have to stay for an hour, and then we can go,” she assured him.

Relief flooded Oz’s face. He'd heard games were typically several hours long.

“ _You sure?_ ”

Vicky nodded and smiled. Oz felt his spirits lighten immediately. 

“Besides,” said the frankenstein as she buckled her seatbelt, “I brought you in during halftime. The game’s already halfway over.”

Oz questioned why she only wanted to watch half a game but was grateful he wouldn’t have to be there long. A short drive later, and Vicky parked her car on a street close to the field. She escorted Oz to the bleachers (after stopping to get a battery soda and an order of eerie fries for Oz.) They spotted an area that wasn’t completely jam-packed and sat down. The Spooky High cheerleaders finished up their routine by summoning a portal to another dimension to eat up half of the opposing team’s audience and the game was back on. Spooky High was absolutely decimating the opposition, who Oz wasn’t even sure had a name. The other team appeared to be made up of monsters as well, but it was hard to see, because every time Oz tried to focus on one, they’d disappear into a cloud of fur and fangs. The wolfpack was destroying the other team, literally and figuratively. 

“ _Vicky, did you see that? One of the werewolves just threw another player into that big yellow post. I think I heard their spine crack-_ ”

Oz turned only to see that Vicky wasn’t even looking at the field. She appeared to be staring somewhere else in the bleachers. Oz craned his neck to see that she was looking at the 5 most popular monsters in school. Specifically, she seemed to be watching Liam de Lioncourt, the hipster vampire that was able to demean everyone in the whole school simultaneously. Oz tapped Vicky on the shoulder. She turned around quickly, a dumb expression painted on her face.

“Huh?”

Oz repeated into her mind, “ _did you see what just happened on the field?_ ”

Vicky gave him a blank look for a second before responding.

“Oh yeah, yeah, really wild,” she said dismissively. Oz stared at her, annoyed.

_“Are you even watching the game?_ ”

Vicky put her hands up defensively.

“I am, I am. I just looked away for a second.”

They both turned to face the field in silence. It was the last few seconds, and Scott had the ball. He was also dragging another player with it, but that’s neither here nor there. The whole crowd stood up and shouted, while Oz shrunk into his hoodie. Through the hood, Oz watched as Scott ran towards the end-zone, barreling through anyone dumb enough to be in his way. The clock reached 1 second and Scott dove to the end-zone, scoring a final touchdown, making the score 108 to 0. Everyone from Spooky High erupted in cheers and threw anything they were holding onto the field. It took the entire weekend and 3 janitor’s lives to clean the field. For now though, Vicky grabbed Oz’s hand and dragged him out of the bleachers to her car. 

“So,” Vicky started, “that was pretty fun, right?”

Oz looked down at his lap.

“ _It was alright._ ”

Vicky playfully punched Oz in the arm.

“C’mon, you looked like you were having fun! Plus you got to see Scott score the final touchdown.”

Oz blushed. Vicky, Brian, and Amira were well aware of Oz’s crush. Anyone who cared to notice would’ve seen the longing glances Oz snuck in during school. 

“ _I guess that was kinda cool,_ ” admitted the shadow monster. _“Are we going home now?_ ”

Vicky began to drive without answering Oz’s question. Oz just closed his eyes and thought about what he’d do once he got home. The low rumbling of the car dulled Oz’s mind after the sensory overload that was the football game. 10 minutes passed until Vicky parked the car. Oz opened his eyes.

“ _Thanks for taking me home Vicky, I really apprec-_ ” Oz’s gratitude was cut off by the fact that Vicky had not parked in front of his house. Vicky had parked in front of somebody else’s house. A house that had very loud music playing and was packed tight with monsters. 

Oz whirled around in his seat to face Vicky.

“ _VICKY THIS IS NOT MY HOUSE,”_ panicked Oz.

Vicky gave Oz an awkward smile as she explained.

“There’s just one more thing I want to do tonight. It’ll be quick, I swear.”

_“VICKY DID YOU BRING ME TO A PARTY”_

“Uhm...maybe? Look, I knew you wouldn’t have come if I told you we were going to a party, so I brought you to the game first,” Vicky said, getting out of the car. She went to the passenger side, opened Oz’s door and yanked him out of his seat.

“Oz, I just want to talk to someone real quick. Just stay in one area, and I’ll text you when I’m done.” 

Vicky grabbed Oz by his hoodie sleeve and walked up to the front door. The minotaur guarding it looked down at them and checked a clipboard it held.

“Name?”

“Vicky Schmidt! And Oz,” chirped the frankenstein. “Seniors at Spooky High.”

The minotaur read his list of who was and who wasn’t allowed. The monsters’ names weren’t on either.

“I don’t see your name here.”

“Oh, there must be a misunderstanding. Here,” she said, pulling out her student ID and the fake one she prepared for Oz, “these prove we’re students of Spooky High. I’m sure you can just let us in anyway.”

Vicky gave the bouncer a wink and slipped a $50 dollar bill between the IDs. Since her charm stat was so high, he moved aside and opened the door for them to enter. Oz, utterly astounded at the whole transaction that just occurred, stood in the doorway for a couple of seconds before Vicky shoved him inside.

“If you need me, I’ll be in the backyard,” said Vicky, leaving Oz in the foyer. The house was decently sized, but it felt cramped due to the sheer amount of monsters inside of it. There was a staircase to the second floor, a living room and a dining room adjacent to the room Oz was in. Oz made his way to the dining room first. 

When entering the dining room, he was immediately greeted by a plate flying above his head and shattering on the wall behind him. A group of monsters formed a circle around the dining table. Two monsters laid atop the table, one being the familiar demon and asshole, Damien LaVey, and the other being an unrecognizable mass of blood and pulp. Damien was straddling the monster and taking wild swipes at its face with a knife. Blood was getting all over the walls and surrounding monsters, but nobody seemed to notice. Oz decided this was not a place he wanted to be and left before he became the next unrecognizable mass. 

The living room had a huge bowl of punch and a bunch of generic chips on a coffee table. Oz noticed Vera Oberlin making some sort of deal with a cloaked figure near the fireplace. He tried not to pay too much attention though, as even witnessing any of Vera’s schemes made you a potential target for exploitation. Oz squeezed out the sliding glass door connecting the living room and backyard.

The backyard had more space. It gave Oz some breathing room. (Even though he didn’t need to breathe.) There was a pool to the left of the glass door, and a small patio to the right with a couple of monsters sipping drinks. Oz considered going over to the less crowded pool, but as soon as he eyed it, he saw Miranda Vanderbilt swimming in the waters. He couldn’t see them, but Oz knew there were hidden serfs all around, ready with crossbows to make sure no one entered the pool. Now it made sense why it was so sparsely surrounded. 

He sighed and headed over to the patio. There, Vicky was chatting with...Liam? Oz stared at the scene with confusion. Why would Vicky want anything to do with the most stuck up monster in school? But the strangest thing was Liam wasn’t looking at Vicky with disgust like he did everyone else. Instead, he was interested in the conversation? Oz swore he even saw Liam almost kind of sorta semi-smile a couple of times. Suddenly, this whole ordeal made sense. Vicky had gone to the football game and the party so she could try to get closer to Liam. Oz suspected she harbored a crush on the vampire. At the moment, Vicky’s love life was the least of his concerns. The party showed no signs of dying, and Oz wanted to get home soon. He approached the two talking monsters.

“I must say,” Liam paused to take a long sip of his drink, “I think it’s rather unconventional of you to come to a football game in the middle of it. You seem like a terribly generic person.”

Vicky gave a nervous laugh.

“Oh really? I’ve always seen myself as someone who’s unafraid to challenge societal norms, but I guess I haven’t been letting that side of me show, huh?”

Oz tugged on Vicky’s sleeve. 

“ _Vicky? Are you ready to go yet?_ ”

“Not now Oz. I’m in the middle of something,” she hissed through her teeth.

Liam looked over Vicky’s shoulder at the cowering shadow monster.

“Vicky? What does your unfashionable little friend want?”

She gave a second nervous chuckle.

“Oh, he just wanted to know where the bathroom is.”

Liam took another sip of his drink. 

“Second floor, first door at the top of the staircase,” he said.

Oz slinked away from the two, feeling more anxious than ever before. He stared at his feet and shuffled back towards the living room when he accidentally bumped into another monster. Immediately, Oz shouted an apology into the monster’s head. 

“ _I-I’m s-s-so sorry. I-I didn’t mean to, I swear!_ ”

“Hey bro, it’s no big deal.”

The monster turned around and Oz went still for a second. Right in front of him was Scott Howl, the werewolf hunk himself, dressed in casual plaid attire. Oz found himself at a loss of words. Instead of turning away from the shadow monster, like anyone else would’ve done, Scott continued to look directly at Oz’s stressed expression. 

“You feeling alright bro?” The werewolf tilted his head and made a worried expression. Oz quickly noted how adorable this was and then focused on formulating sentences. 

“ _G-great job o-on that last g-goal. You l-looked g-good out there._ ”

Oz kicked himself internally for that last part while Scott smiled widely. 

“Thanks, bro,” Scott beamed at Oz. “Coach said I sent at least half the team to the hospital! Twice!”

“ _Y-you must be proud,_ ” mumbled the shadow.

“I am bro,” Scott cheerfully responded.

Oz searched his surroundings for anything to get him out of this conversation.

“ _Well, I’m going to g-go get some punch._ ”

“Okay bro, have fun!”

Oz hastily made his way into the living room. He got a cup and scooped some of the pink liquid into it. Oz downed the cup in no time flat and stared into his empty cup. He was blushing profusely. Once he couldn’t see Scott anymore, Oz untensed his body, not even realizing he was tense in the first place. Oz went over the interaction in his head, criticizing all the parts he could’ve done better. He believed Scott would never want to talk to him again after he revealed how shoddy of a conversationalist he was. Oz slumped against a wall and sighed. Suddenly, he was on the floor, body failing to keep him upright. Oz tried to stand but found it incredibly difficult. Oz looked at the red cup in his hands and made his way over to the punch bowl, wondering if it had been spiked. Sure enough, a flask lay at the bottom of the punch bowl, with the initials P. G. engraved on them. Oz began to worry. If it was just beer or Spirytus Rektyfikowany (look it up), then it would be no big deal. But Oz knew who owned that flask, and he had no idea what kind of drugs she had put in this drink. 

Oz ran upstairs to attempt to find a quiet place to wait out the rest of the party. He ran into the bathroom Liam mentioned earlier, hoping it would be devoid of people. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Two slimy monsters were making out in the sink and Polly Geist, the spiker herself, was asleep in a bathtub full of wine. Oz didn’t want to make things awkward so he retreated back down the stairs.

By this point, Oz was having trouble staying conscious. His mind was becoming a loopy mess of incoherent thoughts. The most repeated thought was to find Vicky and get the hell out of this party. He burst out of the living room into the backyard. He searched the yard for Vicky but didn’t find her. She wasn’t at the patio or near the pool. Oz sat down on a lawn chair and began crying in frustration. Stupid Vicky. Why did she even bring him to this party anyways? Did she think he’d have fun, because if so, she must not be very good friends with him. Did Oz even have friends?

“Hey bro, what’s wrong?”

Oz looked up to see Scott looking down at him with concern.

“ _I didn’t wanna come to this stupid party and now my friend isn’t here and I can’t think straight,_ ” Oz slurred.

“Oh, that sucks bro. Have you tried going for a walk? That usually clears my head. We could go right now,” Scott offered, tail wagging at the sound of the word walk. 

Oz scoffed at such an easy solution to his obviously very complex problem.

“ _Of course going on a walk would help you. Because all your problems can be fixed with exercise and treats, right?_ ”

Scott didn’t really get Oz’s meaning behind his words, but his tone made Scott feel a little sad.

“Yeah, bro. Sometimes I do get treats and those make me feel better too,” the werewolf softly said to Oz. 

“ _Well,_ ” Oz began while standing up, “ _y’know what would make me feel better? Being the most popular idiot in school. You parade around with your other popular classmates and make everyone else feel bad._ ”

Oz hated himself as soon as the words left his mind. He knew it wasn’t Scott’s fault he was intimidated by his social status. Tears were streaming down his face and pooling on the ground. Scott looked genuinely hurt by what Oz said to him.

“I’m sorry...I didn’t know I was making everyone feel bad,” Scott whispered. 

Oz was crying too much to respond. Instead, he leaned onto Scott’s shoulder and sobbed. Scott pulled him into a tight hug. 

“ _Don’t leggo please,_ ” Oz muttered. Scott said nothing and just kept hugging him. Oz felt an unwelcome heat in his lower body. Barely awake, Oz groped Scott’s chest.

“ _You’re really hot…_ ”

Then he passed out.

* * *

Having recalled everything before the blackout, Oz chided himself for what he said to Scott and made a mental note to apologize at school. He saw his clothes on the ground and slipped into his hoodie and jeans. His phone was in his hoodie pocket. Checking it, Oz found he had 5 missed calls from Vicky and 9 from his dad. Oz cursed out loud. He had forgotten to let his dad know he was staying out later. 

“Mm…”

Oz jumped at the sudden groan. In his panic, Oz hadn’t even noticed that there was somebody else in the room. Wait. Not in the room. In the _bed_. Oz crept over to the figure on the other side of the bed he was sleeping in. When he saw who it was, his body almost liquefied. Under the covers was a naked Scott Howl. 


	2. Reconciliation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oz recuperates after the party.

Oz booked it out of there faster than he had ever ran before. The bedroom was on the second floor of the party house, so Oz was able to leave out the front door once he got to the bottom of the stairs. Stepping over a few dead/unconscious bodies, he made his way past the front lawn to the street and began walking home. His phone clock said it was 11:56 am. Oz fully realized what he saw when he woke up. His crush was in the same bed as him. Naked. And Oz was only in his underwear. Did they actually have sex? Oz was frightened at the prospect. Not only sleeping with the most popular athlete in school but completely forgetting it. Every interaction they’d have now would be awkward, Oz was sure of it. He basically threw away every chance of Scott ever liking him at that party anyways. Thinking about all of this almost sent Oz into a panic attack, so he decided to replenish on fear to make himself feel better. Finding an old couple’s house, he broke down their door and held the wife hostage just to watch the panicked expression on the husband’s face. After doing this for about an hour, Oz sufficiently refilled on fear and continued his walk home.

When he got home, his dad was furious. He demanded to know why Oz had gotten back so late.

“I was about to call our relatives to come search for you,” said Oz’s dad.

His dad knew that calling Oz’s relatives would be the most possible embarrassment for him. Every time they visited, they caused a scene, like devouring all the orphans in Monstropolis or arguing with cashiers at supermarkets over the price of souls. Oz was able to convince him that he stayed at Vicky’s house and just forgot to text him. His dad sent him to his room anyways, which Oz welcomed fully. He texted the only group chat he was in with Brian, Vicky, and Amira.

**Oz:: Hey guys.**

**Amira:: wassup**

**Amira:: how was the game?**

**Brian:: sorry we couldnt make it :(**

Oz rolled his eyes at Brian’s fake apology.

**Vicky:: It was great!! i had a lot of fun and i think oz did too.**

**Brian:: oz do you support her claims**

**Oz:: The game wasn’t too bad. But after the game, we went to a party.**

**Amira:: Oz? a party animal?**

**Brian:: color me surprised**

**Vicky:: where did you go Oz? I looked for you all over after the party ended.**

**Oz:: I’ll explain at school, but let’s just say I’m stressed right now.**

**Amira:: if you need to hide a body i know at least 3 places within** **a mile radius of your house**

**Oz:: Nothing like that. And why do you know of 3 places to hide a body near my house?**

**Amira:: a girl’s gotta be prepared ;)**

Oz smiled at his friend’s odd knowledge of body disposal spots and continued chatting about nothing in particular.

  
Usually, on Sundays, Oz, Vicky, Brian, and Amira would meet up and hang out somewhere. What they did was pretty varied, ranging from getting ice cream to stealing ancient artifacts from hidden temples. This Sunday however, Oz was still drained from the party, and Brian and Amira had their “project” to work on, so they called it off. Oz spent the whole day lying in bed, dreading Monday. He still intended to apologize to Scott. What he said at the party, albeit true, wasn’t Scott’s fault. He also wanted to confirm if they did actually hook up. Oz’s mind was still fuzzy when remembering everything after the punch. He practiced different apologies and questions.

“Sorry about what I said about you making everyone feel bad, even though you helped me when I was a sobbing, quivering mess. By the way, did we fuck?”

Oz cringed at his statement. He fell asleep while rewording his apology.

  
An alarm woke Oz up from a nice dream he was having about Scott, which only served to remind him of the apology he still had to make. He was relieved to find he had actually woken up in his own room this time. Oz took a shower, had a bit of fear from the prisoners dad kept in the basement and was at the bus stop 5 minutes early. No annoying imps this time, though Oz did have to sit next to a mimic who kept trying to change into his backpack. The bus arrived at Spooky High without incident. Oz made his way to the yard behind the school where the raves happened. It was too early for any raves to begin yet, so the yard was almost empty, save for a few wandering students. Oz began to text the group chat, telling them to meet him outside, when he was interrupted by Amira walking up to him.

“Hey Oz,” Amira greeted him, grinning wildly, “what’s going on?”

“H-hey Amira. I wanted to tell you guys about something that happened at the party,” Oz stuttered.

Amira smirked.  
“Ooo, what happened?”

Oz shifted his eyes back and forth uncomfortably.  
“Well, at the party, there were a lot of monsters from school there. Including Scott. So I ran into him and then we talked for a bit and I was like ‘well, I'm gonna go drink punch now.’ And I accidentally drank spiked punch.”

Amira nodded, captivated by Oz’s recollection.

“So I was losing consciousness and I collapsed into him and then when I woke up, I was in bed with him. I was in my underwear, and he was naked.”

Amira gaped.

“No way. Did you actually have sex with the most popular jock in school? Way to go, dude,” she said, slapping him on the back.

“No, you don’t understand-”

“I understand my friend just scored-”

“I don’t know if we had sex!”

Amira furrowed her brow.

“You mean, you don’t remember?”

Oz looked down at the ground and shifted from one foot to the other.

“That whole night after Scott held me is a total blank,” he mumbled. “I know I said some rude stuff to him, so I’m going to apologize to him and ask about...what happened.”

Amira put her hand on her chin.

“How are you planning to do that?”

Oz shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe I’ll confront him later during one of our classes. I haven’t figured out what I want to sa-”

“Hey bro!”

Oz clenched his eyes shut, aware of who was currently running towards him but unwilling to visually acknowledge them. Scott bounded towards Oz and Amira almost as quickly as he did scoring touchdowns. He was dressed in his usual school attire today, a letterman jacket and jeans. Instead of the typical dumb smile, he wore a solemn look on his face. Oz slowly turned to face the bigger monster.

“You were gone when I woke up bro,” Scott said.

Oz adjusted his sleeve cuff uncomfortably.

“Sorry, I-I was just kinda... freaking out. I wanted to apologize to you for what I said at the party. You don’t m-make people feel bad,” Oz telepathically stated.

“Yeah bro, I don’t hold it against you. You seemed pretty out of it. Glad you look better now,” Scott laughed.

Oz felt a weight off his shoulders, his eyes lighting up at Scott’s laugh. But the relief only lasted a moment, as he still had one thing to ask.

“H-hey, u-u-um at t-t-the p-p-party… did w-we…”

Scott gave the stuttering monster a quizzical look.

“What are you talking about bro?”

Amira elbowed her unintelligible friend.

“Oz wants to ask you something about the party,” she answered.

“At the party, after I collapsed into you,” Oz paused, searching for the right words, “did we… sleep together?”

The turning gears in Scott’s head were visibly grinding as he came up with an answer.

“Uh…” he rested his hand on the back of his neck.  
“Yeah bro! You don’t remember?”

Oz’s shriek reverberated through the heads of everyone inside the school. He took off for the bathroom, Amira giving Scott an apologetic smile before following. Scott was left in the middle of the yard, more bewildered than ever.

Oz burst into the bathroom and dashed into the closest stall. Brian and Vicky were already there, talking about obscure bands near the window. They stopped their conversation at the sound of the door slam. The zombie walked over to the stall and knocked on the door.

He calmly asked, “you alright in there?”

His only response was whimpers.

Amira entered the bathroom a minute later to see a worried Vicky and Brian surrounding a crying stall. She locked the bathroom door (this was pointless; Oz’s distress sent out a fear wave so strong monsters had nightmares just by looking at the door) and explained the situation to her clueless friends.

“Oz hooked up with Scott at the party and doesn’t remember it.”

Brian reacted with the same composed face he always had, though he did raise his eyebrows a bit, while Vicky looked on in shock.

“Wait,” Vicky gasped, “Is that why I couldn’t find you after the party?”

“Y-yeah…,” Oz murmured.

Brian put his hands in his jacket pockets.

“I don’t see the problem,” the zombie said casually. “I mean, you lost your virginity to your crush, the most popular jock in school. Most monsters would literally kill to be in your position.”

“T-That part doesn’t really bother me. Well, I-I mean it kinda does. It’s just that I barely know him, and we’ve already gone so far and I don’t even remember it,” sobbed the shadow.

Oz’s cries rang out through the bathroom as Vicky leaned on the stall door with a guilty expression.

“I’m sorry Oz. I shouldn’t have brought you to that party,” she apologized.

“S’okay… it’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have drank that punch,” Oz lamented.

The three monsters kept consoling Oz through their first period. Eventually, he opened the stall door. 6 arms wrapped him into a hug.

“It’s gonna be alright Oz,” Amira reassured him.

“Thanks, guys,” Oz said while pulling away. “What do you think I should do now?”

Vicky contemplated, “I don’t know. If I was in your position, I would probably have a tough time choosing between never talking to him again or taking the plunge and trying to date him.”

“It’s definitely your decision here,” Amira agreed.

“Just talk to him,” Brian chimed in. “If you guys work out, then great. And if not, then that’s his loss.”

Oz considered his possibilities. He could pretend like this never happened and continue with the rest of his life OR he could try to talk to Scott and maybe create a relationship out of this awkward situation. After a bit more discussion, he came to a decision.

* * *

  
It was gym class, and Scott was dodging every ball thrown his way. Even the sportiest monsters couldn’t get within a meter of him. Scott was nailing every other monster on the court (with dodgeballs.) Finally, there was just one tentacle beast on the opposing side. It was as big as the bleachers and had a sickly blue hue.

It bellowed, “I’m taking you down, dog boy. You and that little shadow twink.”

Scott looked around in confusion. He had been so focused on the game that he had failed to notice any of his teammates. Every member of his team was out, save for one shadow monster. Scott wagged his tail upon seeing him. Oz gave him a sheepish look and turned to face the tentacle creature. It hurled a barrage of balls at the two remaining players. Scott, like before, weaved through them with ease. Oz deflected most of them with another ball.

“Sorry for running off earlier,” said Oz, bending under a projectile.

“It’s alright bro. I was just worried about you,” yelled Scott, launching a ball at the tentacle beast. It batted it away.

“Why were you worried about me anyway? I mean, you’ve probably got more important people to concern yourself with,” Oz questioned.

“Well, you’ve run off the two times I’ve run into you. That doesn’t happen a lot,” grunted the werewolf, rolling to the side.

Oz took a second to cringe before responding.

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry.”

The tentacle beast let out a low roar. Oz wound up a ball and, with one well-timed throw, hit the tentacle monster with a satisfying smack sound. Coach blew his whistle.

“Billie! You’re out.”

The tentacle monster dragged itself off the court and Scott cheered.

“Nice shot bro,” he exclaimed.

“Thanks. So, listen, I want to make it up to you for running away from you. Twice. M-Maybe I c-could- no wait, I mean we could-”

“What are you saying, bro?”

Oz’s clenched his eyes.

“I KNOW YOU’RE FAILING MONSTER HISTORY AND I COULD TUTOR YOU FOR NEXT WEEK’S EXAM.”

A moment of silence fell between the two monsters. Scott spoke up.

“Really dude? You’d do that for me?”

Oz opened his eyes to see Scott’s smiling face.

“Of c-course! It’s the least I could do for you, um, helping me at the party.”  
“Thanks bro! That’s so nice of you!”

Oz sighed in relief.

“By the way,” Scott said with a head tilt, “How did you know I was failing monster history?”

Oz went quiet as he tried to come up with an answer that wasn’t ‘I’ve been watching you every spare minute of that class.’ The bell went off, signaling the end of class.

“A-Alright, I guess I’ll see you later,” Oz stammered, heading for the locker room.

“Wait, what’s your name?”

Oz stopped walking and sighed, forgetting he hadn't introduced himself.

“My name’s Oz,” he said.

“Nice to meet you, Oz.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally posted this


	3. Lunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lunch gives Oz and his friends a chance to hang out with some of the more popular students at Spooky high.

Oz entered the cafeteria and sat down at the first empty table. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a brown paper bag. Inside the bag was a sandwich with bread darker than Oz and a thermos of grape juice. Oz checked his phone while waiting for his friends to show up, still proud of how well the gym interaction had gone. They exchanged numbers after class and now Oz was waiting to hear from Scott about when they were going to study. Oz’s attention was diverted from his very diligent phone browsing to the sound of a lunch tray hitting his table. When he looked up, two blue eyes peered into his white ones.

“Hey, Oz!”

Scott had slammed his tray right next to Oz’s lunch bag, almost knocking over the thermos until Oz reached out to steady it. His tray had nothing but a pile of assorted meats on it.

“Whatcha doing here all by yourself, bro?”

Oz looked around the table. Vicky, Amira, and Brian hadn’t arrived yet.

“Um, I’m just waiting for my friends. I guess they’re running late. What’re you doing over here Scott? Don’t you usually sit with Damien?”

“I told Damien I had to come sit with you today and he said that was fine because he was going to try and burn down the library again,” said Scott.

Library fires aside, Oz brightened at Scott’s statement.

“S-So you wanted to sit with me?”  
“Of course bro,” he said, like it couldn’t be more obvious. “How else are we gonna plan our awesome study session?”

“Oh, right.” Oz couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed before reminding himself that he was still going to spend time with Scott.  
Oz took his sandwich out and poured his grape juice into the cap of his thermos.

“I’m free on Saturday if that’s alright with you.”

“Yeah, that’s alright with me,” Scott murmured absentmindedly.

Oz regarded Scott’s strange tone for a second before continuing.

“What time do you want to meet-”

“Are you gonna finish that?”

Scott was drooling as he pointed at Oz’s uneaten pitch-black sandwich.

“Um, you c-can have it if you want,” Oz stuttered. “You might not like the taste though, it’s made with the souls of-”

“Thanks bro!”

Scott grabbed the sandwich and (were)wolfed it down in one breath. Oz noticed that his tray was empty too. He was impressed with the jock’s appetite and his ability to eat so stealthily.

“Anyway,” Scott said with a burp, “you can come to my house at 2 on Saturday.”

“Sounds good.” Oz and his phobias gave a thumbs up. “Your house is the one the party was at, right?”

Scott nodded vigorously.

“Alright. I’ll be there. Thanks for not making this too awkward.”

Scott looked confused. “Why would it be awkward?”

Oz brought his cup of grape juice to where his mouth would be. It wasn’t really clear how Oz ate or drank things. They just came up to his face and disappeared.

“Well, I mean, we had sex at the party and then I ran off and then, I ran off again…” the shadow monster trailed off. Scott’s face turned a bright red.

“W-We didn’t have sex bro. Are you thinking of someone else?”

Oz dropped his cup.

“Wait, but, you said-” Oz flailed his arms around like he was drowning before finally folding his hands and placing them on the table.

“Scott,” Oz said in a deadpan voice, “tell me exactly what happened after I collapsed into you at the party.”

“Well, let’s see…” Scott placed his hand on his chin in an exaggerated thinking motion.

“You passed out… and then I carried you upstairs. It was kind of like scoring a touchdown, but the bed was the endzone and you were the football. Then, you took off your clothes and got in bed. I was gonna go back to the party but you started saying my name whenever I got close to the door, so I just went to bed.”

Oz stared directly at the werewolf. “Why. Were. You. Naked.”

“I sleep all nude bro,” Scott finished with a giddy smile.

Oz responded by slamming his head on the table as hard as he could.

* * *

“No way Brian. The Unappreciative Living is way more obscure than Reverb in my Skull,” said Vicky.

“Say what you want, but I checked BooTube last night, and ‘Breathless’ by Reverb only had 100 views, and ‘Gaelic Cries’ had 2,000,” objected Brian.

“‘Gaelic Cries’ is their most well-known song! You can’t compare the most popular song of one band and the most unpopular song of another to determine their obscurity,” Vicky shouted.

“Can you two stop geeking out about bands nobody’s heard of?”  
Amira stopped in front of the cafeteria door. The trio was late due to an incident in spellcrafting AP, where Vicky turned the teacher’s head into a volcano. They had to clean up the magma from his eruption when Brian asked if it counted as extra credit. Before Amira entered the cafeteria, Brian pointed through the glass in the door.

“Look, it’s Oz,” he said.

Vicky and Amira looked to where he was pointing to see Oz with his head on the table and Scott poking him on the arm.

“Let’s not interfere with this,” Vicky mumbled. The other two nodded, as Vicky and Brian set off to eat lunch elsewhere and Amira slipped through the door.

Amira quickly realized that all the tables had at least one monster sitting at them. She was trying to pick out the loseriest tables where she wouldn’t be immediately kicked out when suddenly she came to a realization.

“I’m Amira Rashid and I can sit wherever I want!”

She set her sights on the first popular student that caught her eye and stormed over to her table. Vera lazily browsed her phone when she looked up to see that another student had sat down on the opposite side of the previously-empty table.

“What are you doing here?” Vera shot a disgusted look at the girl.

“Eating lunch. This is a cafeteria.” Amira took out a lunch box and poured an entire soda into her mouth.

“You do understand who I am, right?”

Amira burped. “Vera Oberlin? Maker of deals, exploiter of monsters? I’ve heard of you,” Amira grumbled in a faux deep voice. She gave a smug grin and continued eating her lunch.

Vera rolled her eyes and got back to texting. “If you have no deals to make and no reasons to be exploited, then I recommend you go find another spot to eat your lunch. Quickly.”  
Amira snickered at the intimidation. On the inside though, she was incredibly nervous. Sometimes Amira didn’t know why she did the things she did. This was one of those times. Pissing off the most dangerous monster in school was considered by everyone to be a bonehead move, even by the skeletons, who usually got insulted at such ostiophobic terms. Amira knew she was playing with fire here, and not the kind of flames she was used to.

“Who said I was unexploitable? I think I have a certain… persuasion over some of the students in this school,” Amira bragged. Vera stopped texting and sighed.

“You want to be useful? That kid over there,” she pointed at a student with a squid for a head eating caviar out of a bowl, ”owes me 100,000 dollars. Go collect it and bring it back to me.”

Amira stood up. “Say no more.”

She walked over to the squid student and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hello? I heard you have a payment to make to Vera Oberlin,” she told the squid. He glared at her and kept eating his caviar.

“I don’t have her money today, she’ll have to wait,” he said. Amira got angry at his disrespect and almost smacked him before cooling herself off. Vera’s expecting me to use physical force on this guy, she thought. Amira glanced over at Vera to see her still on her phone. Amira knew she was still watching.

“Do you know who that money belongs to?” Amira asked the squid boy.

“Yeah, yeah. Oh no, Vera’s gonna send her goons to beat me up, I’m so scared.” The other undersea creatures laughed with the squid boy. “I’m a squid, I don’t feel pain. She can’t do anything to me.”

Amira stared into the squid’s eyes with an eerily calm expression.   
“Oh no. She won’t beat you up. That’s much too tame. Do you know what she’ll really do?” The squid shook his head. “She’ll have to make her money back somehow. And if she doesn’t get it directly from you, she’ll make it up with you another way. Looking at you, I’d have to say… sushi restaurant.” The undersea creatures gasped, while the squid listened on with a horrified expression.

“Vera will have you cut open, fried and served to the hungry monsters of this city. But you probably won’t be enough. She’ll have to turn your family and all of your edible friends into a full course meal.” Amira leaned in close to the squid’s face. “Do you want that, squid boy? Do you like the idea of your family becoming calamari?”

The squid wiped tears from his eyes.   
“O-Okay! I get it, here,” he took a fat envelope out of his pocket,” take the money, just leave me alone!”

Amira smiled. “Thank you.”

She walked right up to where Vera was sitting and plopped the envelope in front of her.  
“Here’s your money Vera.”

Vera looked at the envelope and then at Amira with a less disgusted expression than before.  
“Wow, not bad. You’ve impressed me.”

Amira opened her mouth to brag before Vera stood up and put a finger to her lips.  
“Don’t get so celebratory. I was joking.”

Vera walked away, leaving Amira to think about the exchange that just happened.

* * *

  
Brian wiped his mouth with his sleeve and threw his lunch bag in the garbage. The librarian gave him a dirty look. Eating wasn’t technically prohibited in the library, but it made the librarian mad when students went to touch the books and got their dirty fingers all over the pages. Sure enough, Brian went to the shelves to read about old human and monster tales. Brian found the history of humans and monsters to be very interesting, especially the part where the monsters killed almost ⅓ of the human population to gain civil rights. He was about to grab a book called “Prey and Prejudice” when a frustrated scream alerted him to the existence of another monster in the library.

“Fuck you, you stupid water cunts! You’re like pigeons with propellers!”

Brian looked behind the shelf he was currently facing to find Damien LaVey shouting at a bunch of flying creatures.

“Everything alright over here?”

Damien turned to see a zombie with his hands in his pockets observing the whole scene.

“Get out of here noob! I’m trying to set this library on fire, but these stupid fucking rats keep putting it out,” shouted Damien.

To demonstrate his point, Damien took out a lighter and set a book on fire. One of the flying creatures, who was indeed a rat with a propeller attached to it, swooped down and spit out a jet of water, extinguishing the book.

“It’s that fucking librarian! She sent her sewer rats to swarm me because I tried to set the library on fire last week!”

The librarian was glaring at the two of them. She was the only teacher in the building to not be confirmed as any sort of monster. She looked like an 80-year old grandma, but Brian theorized she was some sort of demon bent on not letting students have fun. Damien studied Brian intently.

“Maybe if I set you on fire and you ran around the library…” he pondered. Before Damien could act on his thoughts, Brian came up with his own plan. In a flash, he snagged the lighter out of Damien’s hands, lit it, and threw it into the garbage can where his lunch bag was. A small fire started, and all the flying creatures rushed to put it out.  
Damien grabbed Brian by his jacket.

“Hey, noob! The hell do you think you’re doing?”

Brian didn’t respond. Instead, he pulled a match from his pocket and struck it. He held it towards an anthology about Greek mythology. Instantly, the entire shelf caught fire, and surrounding shelves caught fire just as fast. Damien let go of Brian and watched the flames dance.  
“Woah…”

Brian grabbed Damien’s wrist and pulled him out of the library. He was pretty sure demons couldn’t get burnt, but he didn’t want them to be caught by the faculty who would come to investigate the smoke that was puffing out of the library. Once they were out, Damien shook off Brian’s hand and watched the bonfire that was once a library.  
“Noob! That was really cool! You blew up that shelf! Can you destroy more stuff like that?”

Brian shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe.”

Damien grabbed Brian by his jacket with slightly less hostility than earlier.

“You fucking better. Cuz that was pretty dope.”

Brian gave a small smile and pushed away from Damien.   
“We’ll see.” He started walking back to the cafeteria.

“Hey, noob!” Damien shouted at the zombie, “Don’t walk away from me like that!”

But walk away from him he did.

* * *

  
Vicky sighed and hummed a little tune to herself while she crossed the quad. She was wondering if it was worth it to walk all the way to the auditorium to eat lunch. Checking her watch, she could see that lunch was halfway over. By this point, it would’ve taken her more time to walk back to the cafeteria, so she just continued to the auditorium. Vicky was about to enter the seating area when she was stopped by the sound of someone inside. Somebody was performing by themselves in the theater. It was a voice Vicky would’ve recognized anywhere. Liam de Lioncourt. She squealed a little bit and took her phone out to record.

Sneakily entering the auditorium, Vicky got a better look at the vampire’s performance. He was wearing a long purple robe and a wooden mask. Vicky hid behind one of the stage lights and started videotaping him.

“If we are to truly understand the heart of all monsters,” he took a dramatic pause, “then we must understand everything that is not the heart. Only then can we fully immerse ourselves in the knowledge of our predecessors, who could learn anything and everything this planet has to offer.” Vicky found herself captivated by Liam’s performance, and had to remind herself to keep her phone steady a couple of times. Once Liam had wrapped up his soliloquy, Vicky revealed herself from behind the light and gave a round of applause. Liam jumped at her appearance.

“Vicky? What are you doing here?”

Vicky casually leaned against the light.

“Oh, I was just coming to the theater to read some classic literature when I heard your performance and decided to watch,” said Vicky.

“Why would you come to the theater to read? Wouldn’t you rather go to the library?”

Vicky tipped over the stage light from leaning on it too hard and it shattered on the ground. Regaining her balance, she sat down on one of the seats.

“I, uh, couldn’t. The library was on fire,” she bluffed.

“Mhm,” grunted the vampire, unimpressed.

“That was a pretty good speech though. Very emotional” praised Vicky.

“You like it? I wrote it myself. It’s a very personal script, not meant for anyone to witness,” said Liam.

“So, would you be upset to know I recorded the whole thing?”

Liam stared directly at her.

“Delete that. Now.”

Vicky held her hands up.

“Okay, okay. I will. But I think that your script would be really popular with the rest of the students here. You should make it a play,” suggested Vicky.

“Are you simple? The entire point is that nobody hears it,” Liam scoffed.

“Maybe I should bring you a personal piece I’ve been working on,” said Vicky.

“I’ll read it, only to tell you how drab and dull it is. Now get out,” Liam said.

“Alright! I’m going now.” Vicky exited the auditorium, video still saved on her phone. She had no intention to show it to anyone, but now she had another thing of Liam’s to cherish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoops i haven't posted for a while. this chapter was actually written a while ago, but i've been busy with classes and projects, and i like being a chapter ahead when i write. i'm sorry for the wait (if anyone was actually waiting lol)


	4. Weekend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oz makes good on his promise to help Scott with studying.

Oz rolled around in his blankets, his mind a dark expanse of weariness. He didn’t sleep well the previous night. Anxiety kept him up with thoughts of the promise he made to Scott. At the time, it seemed like the perfect idea. Scott was incredibly kind but incredibly stupid, and Oz had As in all classes. Helping him pass the next major test would make up for his abhorrent behavior, he thought. However, the phrase “Easier said than done” held true in this case, and Oz found himself struggling to get out of bed. It wasn’t that Oz didn’t want to help Scott. Quite the opposite, Oz was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to teach Scott enough to help him pass. He often saw Scott staring out the window during class, and he couldn’t remember a time Scott gave a correct answer when called on. Oz had thought of inviting Scott to study a long time ago but never worked up the nerve. He knew that helping Scott retain enough information to get a good mark on this test would be a difficult task. Thinking of this, Oz steeled himself and jumped out of bed. 

In the hours leading up to their planned study session, Oz gathered his textbooks, notes, and supplementary material. He thumbed through it all, while his phobias made flashcards. Once he was sure he adequately knew the material, there was nothing left to do but wait until 2 pm. He chatted with Brian on the phone about the House of the Living remake that was coming out soon.

“I dunno man,” Brian said, “There’s something charming about those old blocky models of the original House of the Living. The new graphics rub me the wrong way.”

“ _I’m pretty excited about the graphics. They look so smooth! It’s like real human flesh!”_

Their conversation continued until 1 pm when Oz decided he should probably get going.

“ _Brian, I’ve got to go. I promised Scott I’d tutor him today._ ”

“Alright, good luck with that. Try to end up in your own bed tonight,” advised Brian in a deadpan tone.

Oz rolled his eyes and responded, “ _Thanks, I will._ ”

Brian chuckled.

“Seriously though, apparently Amira wants to take us to some new place that opened up in the city tomorrow. So don’t go too crazy with Scott.”

Oz scoffed.

“ _Brian. We didn't even have sex. We just slept together._ ”

“What?” Brian exclaimed.

“ _Uhh…_ ” Oz looked at his phone, checking the time and realizing he was about to be late. “ _I’ll explain later. Bye!_ ”

“Don’t han-” **beep**

Oz grabbed his book-filled bag as he headed out the front door, starting his walk/sprint/gallop to Scott’s house.

_____________________

Hunched over on Scott’s doorstep, Oz took a moment to collect himself. He had barely made it in time, even with running. Oz looked up at the house in front of him. It was the house the party was held at. There was still an unconscious monster on the lawn. From the outside, it appeared to be cleaned up from the wild event that caused Oz to be here today. Oz stared at the front door, hoping that he wouldn’t actually have to knock on it. Maybe it was a prank and when he knocked on the door Brian, Vicky, and Amira would pop out and explode an extreme party popper in his face. (Note: extreme party poppers are like regular party poppers but with 10 times the confetti and explosive material.) Regardless of the legitimacy of this study session, Oz knocked softly on the door.

“ _S-Scott? It’s me, Oz. I-I’ve come to tutor you in history,_ ” he squeaked. 

A long silence followed. Oz knocked again, with a little more effort. Looking through the window embedded in the door, Oz saw the house had been mostly cleaned up since the party, though a few cups hid behind chairs and lamps. Oz pulled out his phone, about to dial Scott’s number when he heard a series of thuds inside. After a second, the doorknob jiggled and the door opened. A very tired Scott Howl stood in the doorway, scratching his back and yawning. He was wearing stained gray sweatpants and a loose t-shirt. The hair on the left side of his head was matted.

“Uh… hello,” Scott said drowsily. “What are you doing here?”

Oz felt his spirits sink. “ _I w-was going to tutor you today. We made p-plans?”_

Scott scratched his face before the realization hit him like a truck.

“Oh yeah! That was today! Come in, I’m gonna get changed,” he said, suddenly filled with energy. 

Oz, slightly taken aback by the 180-flip Scott’s demeanor just did, apprehensively entered his house. The first thing he noticed, as Scott ran upstairs to his room, was how different a room could look in the day. Gone was the oppressive body heat and noisy clutter of the party. It was replaced with an overwhelming smell of dog. Oz felt like he walked into a kennel. There were also a few dog toys on the ground, which looked like they’d got their fair share of use. He walked into the dining room and took out his supplies. A small, dark splotch of dried blood remained from whatever monster Damien desecrated at the party. Oz picked at it while he waited for Scott to enter the dining room. 

10 minutes later, Scott leaped down the staircase, actually dressed this time, and sat down in a chair. 

“So,” he said, “What are we doing?”

Oz smirked at Scott’s dopey expression before coughing and opening his notebook.

“ _I’ll be reading my notes and comparing them with yours to see where we should start. You do have a notebook, right?_ ”

“Of course!” Scott slammed a red composition notebook on the table. It was wet with… bodily fluid and Scott’s name was scribbled on the front. Oz gingerly took the notebook and flipped through the first pages, sighing instantly.

“ _We’ve got a lot to do_.”

  
  
  


Oz was decently pleased by how much Scott wanted to learn. It was clear his academic struggles weren’t due to a lack of effort. As Scott explained it, “I try to focus on the book but then somebody starts talking or there’s a bird outside and that just seems much more interesting.” The current unit was about more recent history. After the war, humans were forced to accept monsters' place in society. Culture and art were then “reborn” as monsters added their own personal touches to it. Graffiti took on a much more magical (and lethal) form. Museums added wings filled with monster history and artifacts. Whole cities were constructed to house the newly recognized group of creatures. Advertising started using the monsters as a gimmick for their products. (Oz had been asked personally to star in a night-light commercial, a role he aggressively denied.) It was like a way cooler version of the renaissance. 

“ _So, after the breakdancing phase, next came the-_ ” Oz stopped his lesson after noticing Scott was staring blankly at his face.

“ _Um… Are you listening?_ ”

Scott jumped. 

“What? Oh, yeah.”

Oz put his hand to his face in a 🤔 kind of way. He looked at a half shattered clock on the wall.

“ _We’ve been studying for a bit. Let’s take a break_ ,” he said, closing his book. Scott’s face went from boredom and frustration to excitement and glee in a second.

“Where’re we going?”

“ _Going?_ ” Oz didn’t know they were going anywhere. “ _Uh… the backyard?_ ”

Before he could finish his sentence, Scott launched out of his seat and bounded out the back door, Oz following slowly behind. Scott was already running laps around the perimeter of his yard. Oz leaned against the house and watched Scott race himself. After a few rounds, Scott stopped in front of Oz.

“C’mon bro,” he panted, “You gotta run with me. It’s more fun.”

“ _I don’t really… run that much,_ ” Oz mumbled.

“So you should start now! I’ll go slower so you can keep up.”

With that, Scott grabbed the shadow’s wrist and began dragging him along. Oz, more than a little disoriented at the sudden exercise, let himself be pulled for about a lap before trying to use his own body to move. It seemed like Scott’s “slower” was Oz’s “too fast” and the primordial teenager barely covered half the yard before starting to slow down. By the time Scott had looped 4 times, Oz had looped once. 

“Wow bro, you’re really out of shape,” Scott said cheerfully, passing Oz for a fifth time.

“ _Thanks._ ”

Oz sat down on the back door steps and stared at the clouds while Scott came to a stop. Instead of going inside, the werewolf sat down next to Oz. 

“Whatcha looking at?”

Oz snapped out of his trance.

“ _Oh, uh… nothing I guess._ ”

A huge smile formed on Scott’s face. 

“Were you looking at the animals in the clouds? Bro, I love doing that!”

Scott tilted his head back to look up. The setting sun colored the sky shades of orange and purple.

“Look, over there,” he said while pointing to a big, fluffy cloud. “That looks like a wolf!”

Oz wasn’t sure he saw the resemblance but didn’t say anything.

“Over there, that’s a wolf howling!”

Scott pointed to various collections of condensed water vapor and described how they were different wolves doing various actions. Oz was a little impressed on how much detail Scott could find in a mass of fluff.

“That cloud looks like a wolf coming home to his wolf family and about to eat wolf dinner!”

“ _What exactly is ‘wolf dinner?_ ’”

Scott fell into a state of deep contemplation before answering.

“Meat!”

Somehow, Oz was expecting a more complicated answer.

“ _I see… do you often have wolf dinners with your wolf family?_ ”

“Nope! I live here by myself!”

Oz looked back at the sizable house behind him.

“ _Y-you live here? Alone?_ ”

“Yeah! Sometimes the wolfpack comes over, and then my fridge is empty, but mostly it’s just me.” 

“ _Who pays for your house?_ ”

“The person who made me a werewolf! They said they found me when I was a kid, and I was all alone in a house. My other parents left or something. But then the werewolves bit me and then I became part of their pack!”

Oz looked at Scott’s nonchalant expression in shock. Whether or not Scott realized it, he had been abandoned by his original parents and left to fend for himself.

“ _Scott, I’m so sorry to hear that…_ ” Oz whispered sympathetically. 

Scott tilted his head to the side.

“Why are you apologizing bro? Did you do something wrong?”

Oz retracted his hand awkwardly and put it in his pocket. 

“ _Oh, I… never mind,_ ” he mumbled.

“Anyways, I think my creation-day is coming up in a month. I should probably get ready for whatever party Polly is gonna throw for me! Last year, I almost lost an arm!”

Oz stiffened at the term ‘creation-day.’ Creation-day was another term for birthdays. It had received more popularity in the more recent years, seeing as how many monsters weren’t born at all. Oz was one of the monsters who was “born.” His father had explained it to him. Basically, shadow beings like themselves could use DNA from other monsters to create offspring. If they do that, the child will have abilities from both parents. Oz was not born from two monsters. His father had made him by himself, which was another way shadow beings could produce kids. Oz was not a big fan of his creation-day. He hated being the center of attention, and on creation-days monsters from all over the school would wish each other a happy day. He hadn’t even told Vicky, Brian, or Amira when it was.

“So when’s your creation day?”

Oz left his thoughts and stared at Scott.

“ _Sorry, what did you say?_ ”

“When were you created,” the werewolf asked again. “Or, were you born?”

Oz’s eyes went wide. He did _not_ want to tell Scott his creation day. But he also felt kinda stupid. Scott had just told him about his parents abandoning him and he couldn’t even tell him his birthday. 

“ _Uh… my creation-day is… on Monday…_ ” Oz muttered, hoping he was too quiet to be heard. Unfortunately, Scott’s ears could hear a squirrel from 15 blocks down the road and he was speaking directly into the werewolf's mind. The shadow being had no chance.

“On Monday? Like… after Sunday Monday?”

Oz slowly nodded his head.

“And you don’t have a party planned? Ooo, is it a surprise party? Those are the best,” Scott beamed. 

“ _Um, I don’t usually celebrate my creation-day…_ ”

Scott, whose house was usually the prime spot for popular parties, gaped at Oz’s statement.

“You don’t?”

“ _I’ve just… never had enough time to set anything up,_ ” he fibbed. “L-let's _get back to studying._ ” Oz got up and quickly scuttled into the house. He looked through the glass door to see Scott frantically typing on his phone. 

“ _Scott? You coming?_ ”

Scott stuffed his phone into his pocket and got up.

“Be right there bro!”

* * *

Oz slammed his textbook closed.

“ _Well, I think you’ll be prepared for the next test,_ ” he claimed, packing up his belongings. Scott, surrounded by notes and books, jumped out of his seat. 

“You think so? I’m a little nervous bro,” he admitted. Oz thought for a second before responding.

“ _Tell you what, if you get an 85% or above on your next test, I’ll give you a pound of bacon. Do we have a deal?_ ” Scott’s mouth was watering before Oz even finished making the deal. 

“Okay, I’m gonna get that bacon!” All anxiousness in Scott’s mind was overwritten by a lust for meat. 

“ _That’s the spirit. I’ll see you later then,_ ” Oz waved at the werewolf and made his way to the front door. 

“Bye Oz!” Scott waved, much more aggressively, as the shadow being walked through the front lawn and onto the street. It was dark by this time, and walking home in the twilight set Oz's mind at peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very sorry for not updating this fic for... a couple of months. Honestly, I just got caught up in so much stuff over 2019, I forgot to write sometimes. This chapter has actually been done for a while, I'm finally uploading it now. Happy February 15th.


	5. Pizza Shenangians

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oz and his friends go to a pizzeria.

Oz woke up feeling cheerful, which was a nice change of pace. Most mornings were dreary for him because he would have to interrupt his pleasant dreams to attend school. However, a) it was the weekend and b) Oz was making some progress with his crush. Oz felt as though yesterday’s study session went well, and he looked forward to seeing Scott’s performance on the test Monday. Oz grabbed his phone and scrolled through what few notifications he had. Most of them were just Amira talking about some restaurant she wanted to bring them to today. Oz realized that this was the “new place in the city” Brian was referring to yesterday. He threw on some clothes and got ready for the day.

Even though he had left at a relatively decent time, Oz found himself the last one at Amira’s house. He suspected this was due to the fact his dad wouldn’t let him borrow the car and he had to run all the way there. Amira’s house was a very large mansion on the outskirts of town. It was easily identified by the grand bubbling fountain on the front lawn. Oz found it strange that a family of monsters that primarily used fire magic had a water fountain, but he had never asked Amira about it. The shadow being saw Vicky and Brian in the large living room window and hurried to press the doorbell. Amira greeted him with a friendly “wassup” and a punch to the shoulder. Once everyone was seated, Amira explained her plans for the day.

“I want to go to a pizza parlor.”

Everyone sat in silence.

“That’s it?” Vicky said, lifting an eyebrow.

“Yes, that’s it.”

Brian scratched his chin. 

“Is it a… magic pizza parlor? Are we going to eat pizzas from alternate dimensions?”

Amira shook her head. 

“Nope, it’s a regular pizzeria.”

“ _Why do you look so excited to eat there then?_ ” Questioned Oz.

Amira sat in a leather armchair and crossed her legs.

“Well, it’s so normal that its normality is abnormal. Think about it. Every other restaurant in this city tries to sucker you in with a gimmick.”

Oz pondered this for a second. Davy’s Seafood made you spear the fish yourself, LeBlank grew giant, 30-story high coffee bean trees, and even the McBonald’s had a secret menu that required an extensive knowledge of Latin to access.

“But this place seems completely unweird. No gimmicks, no flashy advertising, no weird menus. I only found out about it because I passed by it on a walk around the city!”

Amira neglected to mention that she was chasing after a monster who had stolen her magical knife and had only noticed the restaurant after disposing of the thief’s body in a nearby dumpster.

“I think we should give it a shot,” she said.

“If you’re so hyped for it, sign me up,” Vicky smiled.

“I’ve got nothing better to do,” mumbled Brian.

“ _Sure, okay_ ,” Oz agreed.

And thus, the dumbass quartet took off for a pizza parlor.

Finding the place was an adventure in and of itself. Amira thought she could retrace her steps and find the parlor that way, but all she accomplished was getting the group lost in back alleys. Brian and Vicky tried to ask for directions and discovered that the restaurant was really as obscure as Amira made it out to be. Most monsters didn’t even know of a pizza parlor in that part of the city. 

Eventually, all four monsters ended up facing the most normal restaurant in the city (after finding Oz, who had gotten lost in a storm drain somewhere along the way). The three skeptical monsters had proof that Amira was telling the truth. The restaurant certainly _seemed_ normal, a simple yellow and red checkerboard pattern framing large glass windows with booths and tables inside. Amira opened the door for her friends and they entered the parlor. 

A little bell above the door rang out as they entered, letting the human inside know that somebody had entered. The man at the counter was a middle-aged guy with a black mustache, and he was fiddling with something at the cash register, not turning his head to greet his customers. Instead, he let his words greet them.

“Welcome! What can I get you today?”

The group was too busy marveling at the plainness of the store to give him an answer. Amira was the first to come to the counter. 

Leaning on the counter, she said, ”One regular pizza please!”

She gave her toothiest grin while her friends stood next to her, awaiting a response.

The man looked up from the register with a gleeful expression, ready to greet his first customers. When he actually saw his monstrous customers, he immediately frowned and let out a long sigh.

“I’m so stupid… I was an idiot for expecting anything else…” he mumbled to himself.

Brian, Vicky, and Oz simultaneously raised an eyebrow at the human’s muttering. Amira, on the other hand, seemed undeterred from her goal and tapped the counter impatiently.

“Um, hello? Did you hear me?”

The man looked up at the hot-headed girl and crossed his arms.

“I won’t serve you. I won’t serve any monsters.”

There was a moment of stunned silence that swept the diner before a single word escaped of Amira’s mouth to penetrate the thick air.

“What?”

The exclamation was said with no tone or force. It was left to hang over the heads of everyone while they reacted to what just occurred.

“You heard me. I won’t let monsters buy food from my store.”  
  


Vicky stepped forward, saying, “But… this is like the monster capital of the country. Why would you open a business in a monster city if you’re not going to serve food to monsters?”

The man sighed and for a second Oz felt bad for this monster-hating bigot. He seemed to be really tired and empty.

“This was the cheapest location I could find for my business. All the other cities had ridiculously expensive buildings, but because of the crime rate and other,” he glared at the group as he continued, “issues… property damage is common in this city, so it was dirt cheap. I was hoping I could just put up a ‘people only’ sign on the wall but I guess that was hoping for too much.”

“Dude,” Brian said as he stepped up to the counter, ”you’re an idiot.”

“You think I don’t know that?!” the middle-aged guy screamed.

Amira shrugged and turned her expression casual.

“Well you were hoping for humans and you got us instead. We’re 4 capable, paying monsters looking to get a bite to eat. So, I’ll ask again. Can I get one pizza please?”

The middle-aged guy tugged on his mustache and glared.

“NO! GET OUT!”

Amira smacked her lips in disappointment. “Are you suuure? You seemed to be getting real fired up about this. No need to turn up the heat in here, let’s try to keep it chill. This restaurant could be a real trail-blazer for pizzerias in this city, and I’d _hate_ to see your dreams go up in smoke, catch my drift?”

With every fire-related piece of wordplay she spoke, the blaze on her head grew bigger, until it was threatening to scorch the ceiling.

The man seemed to catch on to what Amira was hinting at, as his eyes grew wide and he ran to the kitchen.

Amira turned around to face her friends.

“You see guys? Just a little bit of coercion can go a long way. If somebody’s trying to resist you, you just gotta extinguish their fighting spirit, like t-”

Amira was cut off by a bucket of water drenching her and putting out the fire on her head. The middle-aged guy threw the bucket to the ground and wiped his brow in relief. A tsunami of silence cascaded over the store. The store owner made an expression he considered to be intimidating, and threw it at all of the high schoolers in his shop. Vicky, Brian, and Oz were silent out of fear, but it was not fear of the man. Amira’s expression stayed completely calm, almost bored even, as she slowly turned around to face the pitiful human at the counter. 

“You are dead,” she stated as though she were reciting a fact from an encyclopedia.

Brian, fearing even more escalation, took Amira by the arm and led her out the front door, but not before shooting the man a dirty look.

Vicky followed Brian’s example, shooting the man the scariest look she could muster and leaving.

Oz headed towards the door as the man was yelling at them.

“That’s right you monster freaks, don’t come b-”

Oz glared into the man’s soul, unearthing all his hidden fears and insecurities. The man fought for control over his body but it was too late. Oz had already imprisoned the man inside his own mind. After that, he grabbed 50 bucks from the cash register and left.

Outside the store, the remaining dampness on Amira’s head evaporated as she reignited her head fire. 

“Dammit!” she screamed while kicking a dumpster. “Why’d you drag me out of there Brian, I was about to send that guy to a dimension of pain! Figuratively.” (The figuratively was an important distinction; the group knew the actual horrors of the pain dimension.)

Brian pinched the bridge of his nose, flaking off a bit of skin as he did so.

“Do you know how much paperwork you have to fill out when you kill a human? It’s a lot of paperwork.”

“It would’ve been worth it-”

“I’m talking 9 months worth of paperwork Amira.”

Amira grumbled and sat down at the curb, unable to argue any further. 

“Man… that was a big waste of our time.”

“ _Not totally. I got 50 dollars_ ,” Oz said.

“Are they monster dollars or human dollars?” asked Vicky.

“ _Human…_ ”

Vicky shrugged.

“They’re probably useful somewhere. I think the conversion rate is low when transferring to monster dollars though.”

The group fell silent for a while until Vicky spoke up again. 

“Wanna trash the pizzeria?”

Brian asked, “Won’t that human call the cops on us?”

Oz shook his head, “ _I sent him into a nightmare of his mind’s creation. He won’t be noticing a thing._ ”

Amira sprang up from the curb. She slammed her fist into her palm and turned around to face the restaurant. 

“I think this day’s turning around.”

For the next 6 hours, the inside of the store was complete mayhem. Amira immediately set to work setting all the furniture on fire. (The man must’ve been true to his word when he said the building was dirt cheap, no sprinklers went off.) Vicky headed off to the kitchen and proceeded to make food creatures with the ingredients from the store’s fridge and pantry. Her personal favorite was the Basilisk, a serpent made out of basil scrounged up from the walk-in freezer’s floor. It oozed marinara sauce as it slithered around, and could spit acidic cheese on command. Vicky decided she’d take it home once it was done wreaking havoc. Brian took out a permanent marker from his pocket and recreated every painting he’d learned about in his art appreciation class on the walls, though he edited them to include phrases such as “Pizza is overrated” and “Humans suck.” Brian made sure to devote some of his time to draw a few large dicks on the human's face.

Oz, unsure of anything specific to do, went to the bathrooms and busted up all the pipes, causing waves of water to gush from the toilet. Seeing all the carnage in the bathroom made Oz think of another way to cause devastation in the restaurant.

Grabbing the cash register, he went into the kitchen.

“ _Vicky, could you make this into a bomb?_ ”

“On it,” she said, snatching it from his grasp.

15 minutes later, Vicky came out of the kitchen with the completed explosive.

“It’s ready Oz!”

Brian and Amira finished up their mischief and exited the store to get a good view of the explosion. Oz and Vicky placed the bomb on a table in the middle of the restaurant and bolted outside. 

Amira tugged on Vicky's sweater, asking if she set it already.

Vicky nodded excitedly. “Should be going off in 3, 2 -”

The loud sound of an explosion ended the countdown early. Neighboring buildings shook from the force of the combustion. The monsters wiped glass from their clothing as they took a step back to admire their handiwork. The entire place was in utter ruin. It looked like it had been put through an apocalypse, which some might consider the events that had occurred in there to be a mini apocalypse of sorts. Fragments of burnt menus and melted utensils littered the sidewalk.

“Uh… the guy’s still alive in there right?” 

The group went cold at Brian’s question. Amira peered inside to see the human staring blankly at a wall, free of harm.

“Fucker’s fine.”

Vicky asked, “It doesn’t count as murder if he dies from the building collapsing, right? 

“ _...let’s go._ ”

Amira, Vicky, and Brian shared Oz's sentiment, as they all started home, promising to message each other in the morning before school.

Somewhere, inside the sad shallow husk of a person the man was reduced to, a vague sense of awareness about his restaurant's condition floated about. His body managed a small tear at the realization.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda wanted to write a chapter where the gang just hangs out for an afternoon. hope you guys still like it.


End file.
